Terrestrial connections
by Teddylonglong
Summary: ONE-SHOT. Ten-year-old Harry's Animagus form is that of an earth phoenix and as such he is connected to the earth, however, this connection turns out to have fatal consequences. Completely AU, death!Dursleys (thus the rating)


**Terrestrial Connections**  
 **by Healer Pomfrey**

 _All recognizable characters belong to J. K. Rowling, and I am not earning anything by writing this story.  
I am not a native speaker of English. Please excuse my mistakes._

* * *

Eight-year-old Harry Potter fled out onto the street behind his relatives, as he felt the earthquake shake the foundations of the Dursleys' residence. His fight with his uncle still at the forefront of his mind, he immediately retreated behind the garage, not wanting the neighbours to see how upset he was.

"Harry," he heard a soft voice. He had heard the voice before, and he knew already that there was no one talking to him. _'Just my imagination,'_ he thought. _'No one would talk to me in such a soft voice anyway.'_

"Harry," the voice called him again.

"Who are you?" Harry asked in a more upset voice than intended.

"I'm the earth, Harry. You're connected to me," the voice informed him, causing Harry to stare at the ground in shock.

Right in front of his feet, there was a circle of brown earth in the grass, in which small holes slowly appeared and formed themselves to eyes, a nose and a mouth that stretched to a smile.

"I am connected to you?" Harry asked, incredulously. "What does that mean?"

He had the impression as if the earth chuckled, before she replied, "You must be an earth phoenix if you'll manage to transform. There was a witch, one thousand years ago, who was able to transform into an earth phoenix," the earth continued to explain. "Her sister was a Seer, and she told me about you. The only other earth phoenix lived about five hundred years ago at my opposite side. In Japan."

"Excuse me..." Harry replied in confusion, uncertain what the earth wanted him to do.

"You must try to change into a bird," the earth instructed him, sounding like a kind, old lady. "Imagine your hands as wings with brown feathers, then your arms and so on until you manage to transform. It'll be much safer for you at the next earthquake."

"All right," Harry replied in surprise, resolving to practise changing into a bird in his cupboard. _'I hope there won't be a next earthquake though,'_ he thought. _'That was outright scary.'_

"If you ever wish to speak with me or need my help for something, just put your hand on the ground and speak with me," the earth instructed him, causing him to profusely thank his new friend before he hurried inside, from where his aunt was shouting for him.

HP

During the following months, Harry used every free minute to practise changing into a bird, even if he only half heartedly believed that he would be able to do such a thing, especially since it seemed more freaky than he could imagine. Nevertheless, a few days before his tenth birthday, he managed to spike brown wings where his left hand was supposed to be. _'It works,'_ he realised, incredulously, resolving to try changing his right hand next.

Just five months later, Harry could transform his whole body except for his head. _'This is so cool,'_ he thought. _'When I can completely change, I'll be able to fly. I can't wait. Oh well, it's going to be Christmas soon, and I'll have much time to practise when they lock me into my cupboard during the Christmas holidays.'_

However, before Christmas, something happened that made any practice over the holidays unnecessary.

HP

In the afternoon of the last day of school before the Christmas holidays, all children were invited to come to school together with their parents for a Christmas party. At this opportunity, the pictures drawn by the children were displayed in the hall for everyone to see.

Harry noticed in excitement that his painting, of which he felt very proud, was displayed at the best spot and could be seen first of all paintings. However, as soon as his aunt and uncle managed to catch a glance at his piece of art, in which Father Christmas leaned down to Harry and handed him a small present, Uncle Vernon pulled Harry out of the school by his ear.

"How dare you do freakish things at the school?" Vernon roared after dragging Harry into the car.

"I'm sorry," Harry whispered, feeling extremely disappointed and also upset about his relatives' reaction to his painting. _'Even the teacher said it was very well done,'_ he thought, agitated.

Back at the Dursleys' home, Uncle Vernon swung his belt and punished Harry, before he pushed the boy back into the cupboard.

Feeling very sore and upset, Harry automatically tried to change into his bird form and even managed to transform his head for the first time - not a second to early, as the earth under the Dursleys' residence began to shake badly.

Before Harry could panic at the cracking of the walls above him, a small opening appeared in the floor of his cupboard, and he heard the earth instruct him, "Dig into me and burrow flash yourself outside. Quickly now."

At any other time, Harry would not have understood what to do, however, in full panic mode, his phoenix instincts took over and made him burrow flash himself out into the Dursleys' garden, where he made himself as comfortable as possible behind a large bush.

Horrified, he saw that the Dursleys' house had mostly collapsed. Still, small bits and pieces were falling down from small walls that remained partly above the ruin. His relatives were nowhere to be seen. _'Maybe they're talking to the neighbours,'_ he thought, noticing that the neighbours' houses seemed to only be slightly affected by the earthquake.

Firmly placing his foot onto the ground, he trilled, #Thanks so much for warning me and rescuing me, Earth. I hope you can understand me even if I'm a bird and I don't have hands.#

"Of course I can understand you, dear," the earth replied, immediately. "I'm glad that you're safe and sound."

HP

Albus Dumbledore was just having tea in his office together with his colleagues, looking forward to the winter holidays that were going to commence in the morning. All of a sudden, one of the devices on his shelf let out an alarm.

"What's that sound?" the deputy headmistress queried, seemingly bewildered.

"The blood wards around Harry Potter's home are coming down," Albus replied, observing the speed in which the failure occurred in concern. He quickly made up his mind. "I shall go and see what happened," he spoke up and asked Minerva and Severus to accompany him, before he stepped into the fireplace in a hurry.

When the three professors left the floo network through the fireplace in Arabella Figg's house, the Squib seemed to be not at home, and they swiftly left her house and stepped onto the street, where they stopped dead in their tracks at the sight in front of them.

The house that had been situated right across the street was completely destroyed, while the neighbouring houses had merely received cracks in the walls. Rescuers were trying to move boards and bricks, apparently trying to find people possibly buried under the house with the help of rescue dogs. The whole neighbourhood, including Mrs. Figg, was gathered on the street observing the rescue crowd.

"Oh Merlin," Albus blurted out, horrified. "At least Harry should be alive though."

"But where is he?" Minerva spoke up and turned to the Squib. "Hello Arabella, have you seen Harry?"

Mrs. Figg shook her head. "No Minerva, he probably was in the house, since it happened in the evening," she replied in a grave voice.

"Let's go into the garden," Albus instructed his colleagues, seeing that there weren't any spectators on the other side of the pile of boards, bricks and remaining parts of walls.

"Severus, can you change into your snake form and look if Harry's under the house?" he asked the potions master, casting him a pleading look, when his view fell on an earth phoenix sitting behind a few bushes at the other end of the garden. _'I'll go and ask him if he knows something. Why in the world would a phoenix be here in this Muggle area?'_ he thought, bewildered.

While the Slytherin slithered through the completely destroyed house, only finding the boy's relatives' bodies, the headmaster transformed into his phoenix form and joined the other phoenix behind the bushes.

#Hi there,# he addressed the obviously younger phoenix. #What might an earth phoenix be doing here in this Muggle area?#

#I'm sorry,# the other phoenix trilled back in apparent surprise. #I was told to change into a phoenix and practised for two years. I only managed to change into my phoenix form this evening when the earthquake occurred.#

#So you're not a real phoenix but an Animagus just like myself,# Albus trilled in amusement. _'Maybe it's Harry,'_ he thought. However, noticing that the phoenix seemed very hesitant and frightened, he refrained from asking directly. Instead, he enquired, #Have you perhaps seen the boy who lived here? Harry Potter?#

#I'm Harry,# the younger phoenix replied, staring at the fire phoenix in apparent shock.

HP

Harry stared at the other phoenix in shock. _'Who's that, and why does he know my name?'_ he wondered, when a thin man, completely dressed in black clothes, stepped in front of them.

"Albus, the boy is not in the house, but his relatives were. They're dead," the man spoke up.

 _'Oh no,'_ Harry thought, horrified. _'My relatives are dead? And it's only my fault. If I hadn't got so upset...'_ He was brought out of his musings, when the other phoenix transformed into a very old man with a long, white beard.

"Thank you for checking, Severus. The phoenix here is Harry," the old man told the man in black, causing the man to quirk an eyebrow at him.

"You're Harry Potter?" the man finally asked.

#Yes sir. I'm sorry. I killed the Dursleys,# Harry replied in a small voice, having no clue that none of the humans were able to comprehend his trills.

"Let's take him to Hogwarts," the old man decided. "He won't be able to flash, as he told me that he only just managed the Animagus transformation for the first time. Maybe Fawkes can teach him." Turning to Harry, he asked, "Harry, all three of us - he pointed to the man in black and a tabby cat sitting on his other side - are professors at Hogwarts, and we're going to take you with us to Hogwarts. I shall transform back into my phoenix form now. Please grab my tail feathers, so that I can take you with me."

 _'Hogwarts? Is that a prison?'_ Harry wondered, however, instinctively grabbed the phoenix' tail feathers like he had been told, unaware that his life was going to become so much better from this time onwards.

 **The End**


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